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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This...

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This development, confirmed by high-ranking party insiders, follows the realization that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) effectively ceded its claims on the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to protect the alliance, facilitating a “Mumbai for BJP, Kalyan for Shinde” power-sharing formula. The compromise marks a complete role reversal between the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Both the political parties were in alliance with each other for over 25 years before 2017 civic polls. Back then the BJP used to get the post of Deputy Mayor while the Shiv Sena always enjoyed the mayor’s position. In 2017 a surging BJP (82 seats) had paused its aggression to support the undivided Shiv Sena (84 seats), preferring to be out of power in the Corporation to keep the saffron alliance intact. Today, the numbers dictate a different reality. In the recently concluded elections BJP emerged as the single largest party in Mumbai with 89 seats, while the Shinde faction secured 29. Although the Shinde faction acted as the “kingmaker”—pushing the alliance past the majority mark of 114—the sheer numerical gap made their claim to the mayor’s post untenable in the long run. KDMC Factor The catalyst for this truce lies 40 kilometers north of Mumbai in Kalyan-Dombivali, a region considered the impregnable fortress of Eknath Shinde and his son, MP Shrikant Shinde. While the BJP performed exceptionally well in KDMC, winning 50 seats compared to the Shinde faction’s 53, the lotter for the reservation of mayor’s post in KDMC turned the tables decisively in favor of Shiv Sena there. In the lottery, the KDMC mayor’ post went to be reserved for the Scheduled Tribe candidate. The BJP doesn’t have any such candidate among elected corporatros in KDMC. This cleared the way for Shiv Sena. Also, the Shiv Sena tied hands with the MNS in the corporation effectively weakening the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s alliance with them. Party insiders suggest that once it became clear the BJP would not pursue the KDMC Mayor’s chair—effectively acknowledging it as Shinde’s fiefdom—he agreed to scale down his demands in the capital. “We have practically no hope of installing a BJP Mayor in Kalyan-Dombivali without shattering the alliance locally,” a Mumbai BJP secretary admitted and added, “Letting the KDMC become Shinde’s home turf is the price for securing the Mumbai Mayor’s bungalow for a BJP corporator for the first time in history.” The formal elections for the Mayoral posts are scheduled for later this month. While the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)—led by the Shiv Sena (UBT)—has vowed to field candidates, the arithmetic heavily favors the ruling alliance. For Eknath Shinde, accepting the Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai is a tactical retreat. It allows him to consolidate his power in the MMR belt (Thane and Kalyan) while remaining a partner in Mumbai’s governance. For the BJP, this is a crowning moment; after playing second fiddle in the BMC for decades, they are poised to finally install their own “First Citizen” of Mumbai.

Will continue my father’s legacy, says Zeeshan after getting NCP ticket

Zeeshan

Mumbai: NCP leader Zeeshan Siddique on Friday vowed to continue the legacy of his father, Baba Siddique, who was gunned down earlier this month and said his party would win with a record-breaking majority the state assembly elections.


Talking to PTI after the NCP announced him as its candidate from the Bandra East constituency, the MLA said that in these difficult times, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, senior leaders Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare believed in him.


“It was an emotional moment for my family, and when people who were friends played games with us, Ajitdada kept his word, believed in me and the Bandra East constituency’s demand to see me as an MLA. I will fight elections and fulfil my father’s dream.”


Zeeshan had won the Bandra East seat on a Congress ticket in the 2019 state elections. Congress suspended him for cross-voting in the recent legislative council elections. His father and Congress veteran Baba Siddique had crossed over to the NCP, a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti coalition, earlier this year.


Baba Siddique, 66, was shot dead outside Zeeshan’s office in Bandra on October 12. Eleven people have been arrested in connection with the killing.


“My father’s absence will always be felt. My sister and I are unmarried, and he would ask us to get married and give him grandchildren, but we didn’t think something like this would happen. We will continue his fight. I believe he will get justice, and my family will get justice,” said an emotional Zeeshan.


The NCP leader vowed to continue his father’s legacy and his work for the society. Zeeshan accused the Congress of not being secular and claimed that the party did not give seats to Muslim candidates.


“For the first time, I saw there was no Muslim in the upper house, and now the NCP nominated a Muslim. Ajitdada is a leader who takes along people from every group and religion and is actually secular. There is a party which was not secular but has called itself secular overnight, like the Shiv Sena (UBT). This is not secularism.” Zeeshan said he is not sure if he was the target of shooters.

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